Catalog 119, R
249. RANKIN, Ian. Resurrection Men. (London): Orion (2001). A John Rebus novel by the bestselling and award-winning author. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
250. RAPHAELSON, Samson. Young Love. NY: Brentano's, 1928. A play, introduced by Joseph Wood Krutch. Inscribed by the author: "For Harriet Parsons/ who pulled the/ whiskers off Santa Claus/ and then abused him/ instead of mothering him/ -- this book as a reproach/ and a sign of my/ affection./ Samuel Raphaelson/ Christmas, 1931/ Hollywood." Parsons became a film producer in later decades; her work included the Christmas classic "Susan Slept Here." Raphaelson, a playwright, is perhaps most well-known for The Jazz Singer, which was made into the first talking motion picture. Spine-faded; near fine in marbled-paper covered boards, lacking the dust jacket.
251. RHYS, Jean. Sleep It Off Lady. (London): Andre Deutsch (1976). Together with a typed letter signed, dated in October, 1976. In part: "I'm delighted that you liked Sargasso Sea and that you've bravely kept in on your bookshelf, in spite of majority opinion...I hope the book stays around somewhere, even if not near exalted Yeats or Beckett." Rhys published her novel Wide Sargasso Sea in 1966 after nearly three decades of living in obscurity following the early successes of her writing career in the late 1920s and 30s. Sargasso Sea won the W. H. Smith Award and has come to be considered a modern feminist classic, so Rhys's letter either reflects excessive modesty or she was still pained by the criticisms of her early writings, which were controversial in their time for their frank exploration of racial issues (she came from Dominica, the Caribbean island -- the daughter of a Welsh doctor and a Dominican Creole mother -- and her fiction is imbued with issues that only came to be widely considered in the postcolonial era), and her explorations of female sexuality, especially female victimization, were also ahead of her time. This volume, a collection of her stories that begins and ends in Dominica, covers the entire span of her life and was her last book published in her lifetime. Because of her reclusiveness, autograph material by Rhys is very scarce. The book is near fine in a near fine dust jacket. The letter is folded in twelfths; otherwise fine.
252. RICE, Anne. Interview with the Vampire. NY: Knopf, 1976. Her acclaimed first book, the first in the Vampire Lestat series, and the first book of a literary career that can only be described as remarkable: Rice's vampire novels are unprecedented bestsellers as well as being critically acclaimed, and even her erotic novels of sado-masochism have achieved a kind of mainstream success that defies prediction. This is the scarcest of the books, particularly in nice condition, as the gold foil dust jacket is notoriously prone to wear. This copy has a bit of red ink to the extreme bottom page edges; else fine in a fine, unrubbed dust jacket with a hint of creasing at the spine base and the front flap. With the author's own bookplate of her New Orleans house laid in, signed by the author. One of the nicest copies of this title we have seen.
253. RICE, Anne. The Master of Rampling Gate. Wheeling: Innovation Books, 1991. A graphic tale, adapted by James Schlosser from the story by Rice published in Redbook and painted by Colleen Doran. Fine in wrappers. Uncommon.
254. (ROBBINS, Tom). "A Tribute" in Guy Anderson. Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1977. Robbins provides an introductory tribute in this catalogue of an exhibition of the work of Guy Anderson, which reproduces a number of the artist's works both in color and in black-and-white. Robbins' first "A" item, in 1965 -- preceding his first novel by five years -- was a study of Anderson. Despite what one might imagine based on his zany novels -- which are characterized by over-the-top plots, wacky characterizations, and metaphysical diversions -- Robbins' art criticism is surprisingly low-key, thoughtful, lucid and insightful. Rubbing near the front spine fold and one corner crease; near fine in stapled wrappers.
255. ROLFE, Edwin. Permit Me Refuge. Los Angeles: The California Quarterly, 1955. A posthumous collection by this politically active poet, who was a member of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade during the Spanish Civil War. With a preface by Thomas McGrath. From the library of novelist Don Carpenter, himself a politically engaged writer in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1960s and later. This was printed in an edition of 1000 numbered copies; this copy unnumbered. Tiny bump to upper board edge; fine in a very good, spine-tanned dust jacket with several small chips and tears and a couple very faint stains.
256. ROTH, Philip. Looking at Kafka. Helsinki: Eurographica (1990). A limited edition and the first separate edition of this piece, which first appeared in Reading Myself and Others. One of 350 numbered copies signed by the author. Fine in wrappers. An uncommon edition, which seems to have received little distribution in this country.
257. ROTH, Philip. His Mistress's Voice. (Lewisburg): Press of Appletree Alley, 1995. A fine press limited edition of a story that first appeared in The Partisan Review in 1986. One of 195 numbered copies, signed by the author. An uncommon edition: although the stated limitation was 195, the press was selling unbound copies a couple of years after the initial publication date, suggesting that not all of the sets of sheets were bound. Fine in quarter leather, burgundy cloth boards, in a fine slipcase. The nicest edition done of one of Roth's works. During the 1990s Roth won virtually every major literary prize given in the U.S. including the National Book Award, Pulitzer Prize, PEN Faulkner Award and National Book Critics Circle Award -- an unprecedented accomplishment in American letters.
258. (ROTH, Philip.) "Looking at Fischl" in Eric Fischl. NY: Mary Boone (1988). Roth provides the text for this exhibition catalog, which reproduces a number of the artist's works in color. Quarto; fine in wrappers.